No.  110 


AUG  S      iaSi 


THE   RELATIVE   RESPONSIBILITY  OF 

SCHOOL  AND  SOCIETY  FOR  THE 

OVER-AGE  CHILD 


BY 


LEONARD  P.  AYRES,  Ph.D. 


:>.  /  7  y  7 


R-S 


Reprinted  from 
The  Journal  of  Education,  December  21,  1911 

BY  THE 

Department  of  Child  Hygiene 
Russell  Sage  Foundation 

400  Metropolitan  Tower,  New  York  City 


IJ-II-I6 


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The  Relative  Responsibility  of  School  and 
Society  for  the  Over-Age  Child 

Leonard   P.   Ayres,  Ph.D.,  Russell  Sage  Foundation 

About  five  years  ago,  American  educators  awoke  to  a  startled 
realization  that  a  large  proportion  of  all  the  children  in  the 
public  schools  were  above  the  normal  ages  for  their  grades. 
Judged  by  the  age  criterion,  they  were  misfits.  This  condition 
was  not  new,  or  even  newly  discovered.  Dr.  William  T.  Harris 
had  called  attention  to  it  as  early  as  1872,  in  his  study  of  con- 
ditions in  the  schools  of  St.  Louis.  But  the  educational  world 
was  not  then  ready  to  begin  a  serious  study  of  educational 
economics,  and  little  attention  was  paid  to  the  matter  until 
I  after  Superintendent  Maxwell  of  New  York  brought  it  to  the 
K,^  front  in  his  annual  report  for  1904,  in  which  he  showed  that  more 
V  than  thirty-nine  per  cent  of  the  children  in  the  elementary 
schools  were  above  the  normal  ages  for  their  grades. 

The  criterion  adopted  by  Dr.  Maxwell  was  one  which  rated 
as  over-age  all  children  in  the  first  grade  who  were  eight  years 
of  age  or  older,  all  those  in  the  second  grade  who  were  nine  years 
old  or  more,  and  so  on  for  each  of  the  succeeding  grades.  This 
standard  was  generally  adopted  by  other  superintendents  who 
applied  it  to  their  ow^n  school  systems  in  order  to  demonstrate 
how  much  better  conditions  were  there  than  in  the  New  York 
schools,  with  the  result  in  many  cases  that  they  were  shocked 
to  find  them  worse  instead  of  better. 

The  interest  aroused  by  these  preliminary  studies  stimulated 
students  of  education  in  scores  of  cities  to  scrutinize  their  public 
school  systems  with  a  methodical  definitiveness  never  before 
attempted  on  any  large  scale.  The  results  of  these  investiga- 
tions showed  that  the  proportion  of  over-age  children  in  the 
public  schools  ranged  from  about  five  per  cent  in  the  cities 
making  the  best  showing  to  more  than  fifty  per  cent  in  those 
at  the  other  end  of  the  scale.  In  the  average  city,  the  percentage 
is  about  thirty-eight.     New  terms  were  needed  to  describe  those 

I 


over-age  children,  and  such  words  as  "backward "/'retarded", 
and  "laggard,"  were  added  to  professional  vocabularies. 

In  the  spring  of  iQi-i,  the  Division  of  Education  of  the 
Russell  Sage  Foundation  undertook  an  investigation  in  co-oper- 
ation with  the  superintendents  of  schools  of  twenty-nine  cities 
to  secure  information  as  to  some  of  the  causes  which  result  in 
backwardness  among  school  children.  This  investigation  covered 
the  school  histories  of  the  206,495  children  enrolled  in  the  eight 
elementary  grades  of  these  school  systems,  and  discovered  not 
only  the  age  of  each  child  in  each  grade,  but  the  number  of 
years  of  school  life  that  he  had  required  to  reach  that  grade. 
The  data  of  this  investigation  throw  new  light  on  the  question 
of  the  relative  responsibility  of  the  school  and  society  for  the 
presence  in  school  of  the  over-age  child. 

In  final  analysis,  all  the  causes  which  contribute  to  make 
a  child  over-age  for  his  grade  fall  under  one  or  both  of  two  general 
heads;  either  he  entered  school  late,  or  he  made  slow  progress, 
or  he  did  both.  If  he  is  over-age  because  he  entered  school  late, 
the  responsibility  lies  primarily  at  the  door  of  society.  If  he 
made  slow  progress  through  the  grades,  it  may  have  been  un- 
avoidable, but  the  responsibility  for  dealing  with  the  case  lies 
primarily  within  the  purview  of  the  school.  If  he  did  both,  the 
responsibility  must  be  divided.  In  any  event,  an  intelligent 
treatment  of  the  case  is  only  possible  on  the  basis  of  exact 
knowledge  of  the  causes  that  produced  it.  The  records  which 
not  only  show  the  ages  of  the  children  in  each  grade,  but  also 
give  the  data  as  to  the  number  of  years  of  school  life,  furnish 
the  most  important  elements  of  this  exact  information. 

Let  us  consider,  for  example,  the  case  of  a  ten-year-old 
child  in  the  first  grade  at  the  end  of  the  school  year.  According 
to  the  commonly  accepted  standard,  he  is  above  normal  age  for 
his  grade.  If  he  has  been  in  school  only  one  year,  he  has  so 
far  made  normal  progress,  and  the  school  can  hardly  be  held 
responsible  for  his  condition,  for  he  was  over-age  when  he  entered. 
If,  on  the  other  hand,  he  has  been  in  school  for  three  years  and 
is  still  in  the  first  grade,  the  school  is  not  necessarily  to  be  blamed, 
but  may  fairly  be  asked  to  give  an  accounting  of  its  stewardship 
in  the  case. 

These  simple  criteria  furnish  a  basis  for  judging  each  case, 
and  enable  us  to  divide  all  the  over-age  children  into  three  groups 


according  as  they  are  over-age  because  they  entered  late,  because 
they  made  slow  progress,  or  because  they  did  both.  The  results 
of  the  study  of  the  records  of  the  children  in  the  twenty-nine 
cities  are  as  follows: — 


I.     NUMBER  OF  CHILDREN  IN  EACH  GRADE,  NUMBER  ABOVE 

NORMAL     AGE,    AND    NUMBER    ABOVE    NORMAL    AGE 

BECAUSE  OF  LATE  ENTRANCE,  SLOW  PROGRESS, 

AND    BOTH    CAUSES    COMBINED.     DATA 

FROM  TWENTY-NINE  CITIES. 

JUNE,  1911. 


Number 

Above 

Normal 

Age 

Above  Normal  Age  Because  of 

Grade 

Late  Entrance 

Slow  Progress 

Late  Entrance 
anci  Slow 
Progress 

I 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

7 

8 

36,096 
32,331 
31.235 
28,844 

25.543 
21,686 
16,893 
13.867 

7114 
10023 
12026 
13032 

12325 

10088 

7021 

4909 

2872 
3199 
3641 
3731 
3792 
3609 

3415 
2824 

2995 
4807 

5797 
6288 
5728 
4450 
2495 
1459 

1247 
2017 
2588 

3013 
2805 
2029 

nil 
626 

Total . . . 

206,495 

76,538 

27,083 

34.019 

15.436 

If  we  reduce  these  figures  to  percentages,  we  get  the  following 
significant  results: 

Total  above  normal  age 37  per  cent 

Above  normal  age  because  of 

Late  entrance 13        " 

Slow  progress 17        " 

Late  entrance  and  slow  progress 7        " 

These  figures  mean  that  thirty-seven  out  of  every  hundred 
children  in  these  schools  are  above  the  normal  age  for  their  grades. 
Of  the  thirty-seven  cases,  society  must  be  held  accountable 
for  the  primary  responsibility  for  the  thirteen  who  entered  late, 
the  school  must  explain  the  cases  of  the  seventeen  who  made 
slow  progress,  and  school  and  society  must  get  together  and 
compare  notes  to  account  for  the  remaining  seven  cases  of  those 
who  both  entered  late  and  made  slow  progress. 

These  figures  represent  conditions  for  the  entire  twenty-nine 
cities  considered  as  a  unit,  but  they  give  no  idea  of  the  great 
variability  of  the  data  for  the  separate  localities.     In  the  follow- 


ing  table,  the  figures  for  each  city  are  given,  and  the  cities  are 
rated  in  the  order  of  the  per  cent  of  over-age  children  in  their 
elementary  grades: — 


II.     NUMBER  OF  CHILDREN,    PER  CENT  ABOVE  NORMAL  AGE, 
AND  PER  CENT  ABOVE  NORMAL  AGE  BECAUSE  OF  LATE 
ENTRANCE,  SLOW  PROGRESS,  AND  BOTH  CAUSES 
COMBINED.     DATA    FROM    TWENTY- 
NINE  CITIES— JUNE,  191 1. 


No. 


I 

2 

3 
4 
5 
6 

7 
8 

9 
10 
II 
12 
13 
14 
15 
16 

17 
18 

19 
20 
21 
22 

23 

24 

25 
26 
27 
28 
29 


City 


Quincy,  Mass 

Amsterdam,  N.  Y 

Racine,  Wis 

Indianapolis,  Ind 

Syracuse,  N.  Y 

Danbury,  Conn 

Milwaukee,  Wis 

Rockford,  111 

Canton,  Ohio 

Elmira,  N.  Y 

New  Rochelle,  N.  Y 

Muskegon,  Mich 

Niagara  Falls,  N.  Y 

Topeka,  Kansas 

Danville,  111 

Trenton,  N.  J 

Plainfield,  N.J 

Reading,  Pa 

Perth  Amboy,  N.  J 

Bayonne,  N.  J 

Hazleton,  Pa 

Watertown,  N.  Y 

E.  St.  Louis,  111 

Schenectady,  N.  Y 

Elizabeth,  N.  J 

Kenosha,  Wis 

Montclair,  N.  J 

New  Orleans,  La.  (white) 
Passaic,  N.  J 

Average 


Per  Cent  Above  Nor 

Because  of 

Member- 

Per Cent 
Above 

ship 

Normal 

Age 

Late 

Slow 

Entrance 

Progress 

4.540 

19 

4 

14 

2,371 

28 

II 

12 

4.075 

28 

9 

14 

23.874 

29 

II 

13 

13.610 

29 

8 

16 

1.967 

31 

10 

15 

32,251 

31 

15 

II 

5.649 

32 

9 

18 

5.567 

34 

4 

23 

2,487 

34 

10 

18 

3.641 

34 

13 

16 

3.163 

35 

12 

16 

3.244 

36 

13 

15 

4.894 

36 

15 

14 

2,260 

38 

9 

20 

8,787 

38 

II 

19 

2,312 

40 

14 

18 

10,585 

40 

5 

31 

3.947 

41 

II 

22 

7.033 

42 

17 

17 

2,655 

42 

10 

24 

3.303 

43 

13 

19 

5.380 

44 

15 

19 

7.846 

44 

16 

15 

7.058 

46 

21 

15 

2,223 

48 

20 

17 

2,568 

48 

14 

22 

23,664 

49 

20 

16 

5.541 

51 

20 

20 

2>7 

13 

17 

Late 
Entrance 
and  Slow 
Progress 


I 

5 
5 
5 
5 
6 

5 
5 
7 
6 

5 
7 
8 

7 
9 
8 
8 

4 
8 
8 
8 
II 
10 

13 
10 
II 
12 

13 
II 


In  the  past  few  years,  many  articles  have  appeared  in  the 
educational  press,  in  which  the  attempt  has  been  made  to  rate 
school  systems  according  to  one  phase  of  their  efficiency  on  the 
basis  of  the  percentage  of  over-age  children  found  in  them.  The 
data  of  the  foregoing  table  will  illustrate  the  dangers  of  such 


yC  SOUTHFRr-J  RFGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 


comparisons.  Quincy,  the  first  city  on  the  list,  has  a  much 
smaller  percentage  of  over-age  children  than  has  any  other  city, 
but  the  figures  show  that  this  is  not  because  her  schools  carry  the 
children  forward  with  great  regularity,  but  because  very  few 
children  enter  at  advanced  ages.  Of  every  lOO  school  children 
in  Quincy,  14  are  over-age  because  of  slow  progress,  a  record 
which  is  equalled  or  bettered  by  five  other  cities.  In  a  similar 
way,  Passaic  is  at  the  foot  of  the  list  because  she  has  a  greater 
proportion  of  over-age  children  than  any  other  city,  and  yet 
rive  other  cities  make  poorer  showings  with  respect  to  the  pro- 
portion of  children  over-age  because  of  slow  progress. 

Summary: — 

1.  A  study  of  the  records  of  206,495  school  children  in 
twenty-nine  cities  shows  that  37  per  cent  of  them  are  above 
the  normal  ages  for  their  grades,  13  per  cent  of  these  cases 
being  caused  by  late  entrance,  17  per  cent  by  slow  progress, 
and  the  remaining  7  per  cent  by  both  causes  combined. 

2.  Society  must  be  held  primarily  responsible  for  the  13 
who  entered  late,  the  school  must  explain  the  cases  of  the 
17  who  made  slow  progress,  and  school  and  society  together 
must  account  for  the  remaining  7. 

3.  The  percentage  of  over-age  children  found  in  a  school 
system  is  not  in  itself  a  trustworthy  indicator  of  the  efficiency 
of  the  working  of  the  educational  organization. 


These  conclusions  are  radically  dififerent  from  those  which 
have  been  based  on  many  previous  studies  of  age-and-grade 
data.  They  demonstrate  the  importance  of  studying  the  prog- 
ress of  school  children  as  well  as  their  distribution  by  ages  and 
grades.  They  illustrate  anew  the  truth  of  the  principle  that 
it  pays  in  every  business,  including  the  business  of  education, 
to  spend  enough  effort  and  money  to  keep  track  of  the  essential 
facts  concerning  every  operation. 

Moreover,  the  figures  that  have  been  cited  are  so  illuminating 
as  to  make  it  clear  that  similar  data  accurately  gathered  and 
kept  always  up-to-date  would  supply  a  most  valuable  instru- 
ment for  the  diagnosis  of  school  conditions  and  for  the  evaluation 
of  the  results  of  certain  school  processes.  As  they  stand  the 
figures  are  at  best  approximations.  Their  value  would  be  greatly 
enhanced  if  they  were  derived,  not  from  a  school  census  taken 
at  irregular  intervals,  but  from  permanent  record  cards  giving 
the  school  history  of  each  child  and  tabulated  at  frequent  inter- 


vals.  By  means  of  such  a  system  of  record  keeping  each  indi- 
vidual child's  educational  progress  could  be  watched  from 
entering  day  to  graduation  day,  and  the  lessons  learned  from 
periodical  tabulations  of  the  data  utilized  in  the  progressive  im- 
provement of  the  course  of  study,  the  promotion  system,  and 
the  special  treatment  of  exceptional  cases. 


Some  Pamphlets  Issued  by  the  Department  of  Child 
Hygiene,  Russell  Sage  Foundation 


Measurements  in  Education 

No.  6i.  The  Relation  of  Physical  Defects  to  School  Progress. 
Leonard  P.  Ayres,  Ph.D. 

A  statistical  study  based  on  7608  cases.     9  pp. 

No.  77.  Why  250,000  Children  Quit  School.    Luther  H.  Gulick,  M.D. 

An  account  of  an  investigation  of  the  reasons  why  so  large  a 
proportion  of  children  fail  to  complete  the  school  course.     30  pp. 

No.  94.  Measurements  as  Applied  to  School  Hygiene. 
Luther  H.  Gulick,  M.D. 

A  presentation  of  the  need  for  measuring  the  results  of  our 
present  school  processes.     7  pp. 

No.  107.  The    Binet-Simon    Measuring    Scale   for    Intelligence: 
Some  Criticisms  and  Suggestions. 
Leonard  P.  Ayres,  Ph.D. 

A  critical  study  of  these  tests  as  used  in  American  schools,  and 
suggestions  as  to  their  adaptation  to  our  conditions. 

No.  108.  The  Identification  of  the  Misfit  Child. 
Leonard  P.  Ayres,  Ph.D. 

Data  from  a  study  of  the  age  and  progress  records  of  school 
children  in  twenty-nine  cities. 

No.  57.  The  Department  Bulletin,  Giving  an  Account  of  the 
Activities  and  a  List  of  Publications.  Mailed  free 
upon  request. 

(The  price  of  all  pamphlets,  unless  otherwise  stated,  is  five  cents.) 


